1 18 Dr. G. C. Wallich on the Value of 



the villous organ must evidently be regarded as holding no very 

 prominent position in the form under definition. But although 

 this organ is noticed in the leading "specific description" given 

 by Mr. Carter of A. princeps, it is altogether omitted in the 

 enumeration of " the parts of which that form is composed/' to 

 which attention is drawn immediately afterwards * ; whilst the 

 description of this most essential organ, deferred almost to the 

 close of that portion of the paper which treats of A. princeps, 

 and until the general features common to all Amcebce have been 

 discussed (Annals, July, p. 43), is introduced under the head 

 " Villous appendage," with the subjoined remark : — 



" The villous appendage which marks the posterior end of 

 A. princeps has lately been brought into notice by Dr. Wallich, 

 in the species for which he has proposed the designation of A. 

 villosa," it being immediately afterwards added, that this ap- 

 pendage was figured in Mr. Carter's " Indian Journal, as far 

 back as 1854"t. And yet, strangely enough, at page 44, he 

 writes thus : " I am not quite certain that they (the villi) " are 

 peculiar to A. princeps ;" and he adds, " I have a drawing of an 

 Amoeba which has them, but does not appear to have the cha- 

 racteristic form of the nucleus of A. princeps. If they are con- 

 fined to A. princeps, then they form a good distinguishing fea- 

 ture for this species ; but, as I have before stated, they are not 

 always present under the same form, and sometimes not at all" 

 — a most important admission, as will presently appear. 



As regards the so-called distinguishing character oi A, prin- 

 ceps derived from its nucleus, I have only to remark that, when 

 fresh and vigorous, the Hampstead specimens of A. villosa ex- 

 hibited a spherical or slightly oblong nuclear cell-membrane — 

 the nucleus itself being distinctly granular, spherical in outline 



* It is worthy of note that, in the ' Annals ' for 1856 (ser. 2. vol. xx. 

 p. 33), out of all the various forms of Amoeba, A. princeps is specially named 

 as being closely allied to the sponge-cell, which is figured, and exhibits not 

 a trace of the essential characters of A. villosa. 



t Without cavilling at mere words, I cannot help thinking that the fol- 

 lowing expression of Mr. Carter's, coupled with what I am now stating, must 

 engender an idea that he, and not I, pointed out the extrusion of effete 

 matter from an orifice at the posterior portion of the animal : — " One 

 point here is remarkable, viz. that while any part in front of the villous or 

 posterior end may inclose a particle of food, it is only, so far as my ob- 

 servation extends (and in this I am confirmed by Dr. Wallich), the posterior 

 extremity which gives passage to the egesta." (Annals, July, p. 35.) Mr. 

 Carter then gives a reference to my statement to this efi'ect in the previous 

 number of the 'Annals' ; but I have to repeat that, as he dwells so pointedly 

 on his previous knowledge of an Amoeba possessing the villous organ, and, 

 after stating his intention of employing a nomenclature previously suggested 

 by himself, employs mine without any acknowledgment, the inference I 

 speak of, however unintentionally conveyed, is inevitable. 



